Closer (2004)

An elaborate character study of two London couples as they engage in an ultimate game of partner swapping. Alice (the Lovely Natalie Portman) is a gorgeous young runaway from New York's seedy sex industry; she soon pairs up with Dan (Jude Law), a thoughtful but unsuccessful novelist and journalist, who authors a book about her. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a quietly independent divorce and successful photographer. Hilarity ensues after Dan makes a move on her during a photo session for the book, she rejects Dan, who retaliates by tricking her into a relationship by pretending to be her on an internet sex chat line with Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist with the lust and manners of a soccer hooligan. The plot revolves around the infatuation of the couples for one another. If they could only treat these dalliances with the silence they deserve, there would be no story here. Instead, they are brutally "honest" about their faithlessness, sometimes inventing boinks that never occurred to "test the love" of their significant other. Ultimately, each ends up with the partner for whom they are best suited; but has their desire to "win" at the game of love diminished their capacity to love and to enjoy its fruits?

Trivia: Natalie Portman is hott, I'm just saying. Cate Blanchett was originally signed to play the role of Anna, but due to her second pregnancy she had to drop out of the film. At the beginning of filming, Natalie Portman gave Julia Roberts a necklace that said "cunt" in honor of their characters' foul mouths. At the end of filming, Julia Roberts gave Natalie Portman a necklace that said "lil' cunt". The opera that Dan and Anna are late for and you can hear in the background is "Cosi Fan Tutte" - this also deals with themes of two couples who swap partners. Anna's exhibition is the only time all four characters are in the same room. Alice's real name is revealed at the end on her passport as Jane Rachel Jones. Thus when Larry continually asks her for her real name, at the strip club, and she keeps telling him "Jane", she is telling the truth.

Natalie Portman...Julia Roberts...Natalie Portman...Julia Roberts...What is the problem here? Why did Jude Law and Clive Owen have so much trouble with this one? Okay, I know, I have a personal aversion to Ms. Roberts (It's the humongous mouth, bugs the heck out of me, except it wasn't bad in this movie, maybe because she was depressed and didn't smile). I like Portman more and more in each film I see her in. And those of you that want to point out the cardboard acting from the Star Wars prequels I have one thing to say. She had to do what Lucas wanted her to do and say what Lucas wrote for her, pretty hard to act through that. I think she did a good job, by the way. The weird thing is that each character had times when they were kind and gentle by other times when you didn't like them much, except Alice, "the stripper" (with all it's negative connotations), who was the only one that was faithful (and only "cheated" (which I am dubious about) when Dan had left her for Anna). So why am I dubious about her "cheating"? Well...Larry had already shown an affinity to mess with Dan's head with the "Have sex with me one last time Anna, or I won't sign the divorce papers" incident so I can see him tell Dan he slept with Alice as revenge even if it didn't happen and then Alice confirming it even if it wasn't true was a way of getting Dan to hate her and leave instead of her doing the leaving, but then again, the whole movie is abut being brutally honest to the point of sacrificing relationships, so I could be wrong.